Of course, we would have to replace our beef and dairy consumption with other foods, so it wouldn%26#039;t be an 18% reduction, but it would be a significant one.
A less radical solution would simply be to consume less beef, as I discussed here:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;... 20% 2 Votes
the breeding and harvesting of cattle has a devastating effect on the environment. A more feasible way of making a difference is by eating two vegetarian meals a week. 0% 0 Votes
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2007/j...
Methane is often missed in the GHG / AGW debate, so here’s a 101.
One point I will make is that if temperatures rise and substantial quantities of Methane are released from natural sinks – frozen permafrost for example - then it is likely to overtake CO2’s role from emissions.
Methane (CH4) is an organic chemical and is very simple molecule consisting of one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms. Methane, the most rapidly increasing greenhouse gas, has increased 145% since the beginning of the industrial revolution. Methane%26#039;s chemical lifetime in the atmosphere is approximately 12 years, (CO2 is approx. 100 years.) It absorbs infrared at a different absorption band frequency to CO2. There is a natural Methane cycle of emission and absorption; anything in addition to that unbalances the cycle.
Methane is produced by any situation where organic matter decays in an environment where there is no oxygen. That’s why is present in fossil fuels (formed underground) as well as in the digestive tracts of animals as they digest organic matter. Hence farts contain methane; a level of 5% of Methane in air is explosive.
Natural Gas is mostly methane and one of the cleanest fossil fuels. Methane is also part of other fuels such as coal and oil, is produced by burning, but is also produced by any situation where organic matter decays in an environment where there is no oxygen. Methane is produced by swamps (swamp gas) wetlands, rice paddy fields, and by animal manure, etc. Methane is generated in landfills and dumps as waste decomposes under conditions starved of oxygen. A compost heap produces methane. Oddly termites also produce a significant quantity, simply because there are so many of the insects. Burn organic material and methane is one of the by-products.
Methane in the atmosphere is a significant greenhouse gas — it absorbs some frequencies of infrared radiation (emitted from the Earth%26#039;s surface) that would otherwise go straight out to space, in combination with other greenhouse gases (CO2, N2O and water vapour). It normally accounts for around 15% of the greenhouse effect. It’s judged to be around 20 times more effective as a greenhouse gas than CO2.
A massive release of methane hydrates is thought to have played substantial part in the rapid temperature rise that caused the Permian-Triassic extinction event 251 million years ago.
Permian-Triassic extinction event
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permian-Tri...
Role of Methane
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permian-Tri...
And
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permian-Tri...
In cool periods Methane is stored as a Clathrate (also known as a hydrate), a chemical compound that consist of a ‘cage’ of molecules (usually frozen water) that can trap a gas. This Clathrate chemical formula is : CH4.6H2O
These are known as ice that burns, for when set alight on the surface they burn away leaving nothing but a pool of water.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/200...
Methane Clathrate’s are very stable at high pressure and low temperature. This is why a vast amount are locked up in frozen Tundra within the arctic circle and in ocean sediments. And why they can be released when the temperature rises. A warmer atmosphere helps release the methane from the Clathrates. E.g. When frozen permafrost thaws.
The worldwide amounts of carbon bound in gas (usually methane) hydrates is conservatively estimated to total twice the amount of carbon to be found in all known fossil fuels on Earth. There’s a lot of it, that’s one thing to bear in mind.
The Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Washington State University has shown that in previous periods of global warming the levels of atmospheric methane rapidly increased in a warming climate with a small lag behind temperature. Once warming begins more methane is released into the atmosphere, this adds to the amount normally present (a positive feedback) which adds to the warming effect.
Methane basic chemistry
http://scifun.chem.wisc.edu/chemweek/met...
NASA : Methane’s role in the atmosphere
http://www.giss.nasa.gov/research/featur...
History of discovery of Methane’s role as a Greenhouse Gas
http://www.aip.org/history/climate/other... 0% 0 Votes